36 Facts About Hage Geingob

Hage Gottfried Geingob was a Namibian politician who served as the third president of Namibia from 2015 until his death in February 2024.

Between 2008 and 2012 Hage Geingob served as Minister of Trade and Industry.

In November 2014, Hage Geingob was elected president of Namibia by an overwhelming margin.

In November 2017, Hage Geingob became the third president of the ruling SWAPO Party after winning by a large margin at the party's sixth Congress.

Hage Geingob served as the party's president until his death.

Hage Geingob lived in exile in Botswana, the United States, and the United Kingdom for 27 years.

In 1964, Hage Geingob left for the United States to study at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

In 1971, Hage Geingob was appointed to the United Nations Secretariat as a political affairs officer.

Hage Geingob was director of the United Nations Institute for Namibia until 1989.

Hage Geingob had placed ninth, with 368 votes, in the election to the central committee of SWAPO at the party's August 2002 congress, but on 15 September, he failed to be reelected to the SWAPO politburo; he received 33 votes from the 83-member central committee, while the lowest scoring successful candidate received 35 votes.

In February 2003, Hage Geingob became the Executive Secretary of the Global Coalition for Africa, based in Washington, DC.

Hage Geingob then left the Global Coalition for Africa and returned to Namibia to participate in the November 2004 parliamentary election, in which he won a seat.

Hage Geingob became the party Chief Whip of SWAPO in the National Assembly on 18 April 2007.

Hage Geingob was brought back into the SWAPO politburo in mid-2007, filling one of two vacancies.

At SWAPO's 2012 party congress, Hage Geingob was reelected as vice-president on 2 December, a result which was considered likely to make him the successor of Hifikepunye Pohamba as president of Namibia in 2015.

Hage Geingob received 312 votes from the delegates, while Jerry Ekandjo received 220 and Pendukeni Iivula-Ithana 64.

Hage Geingob was sworn in as president on 21 March 2015.

Hage Geingob was criticized for spending too much money on a bloated administration and granting contracts to foreign companies instead of Namibian companies.

Hage Geingob was the chairperson of SADC after being elected to the position in 2018.

In February 2023, Hage Geingob hosted First Lady of the United States Jill Biden, the highest-level official from the US to visit Namibia since Al Gore in 1996.

In March 2023, Hage Geingob named Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah as the SWAPO presidential candidate in the 2024 Namibian general election.

Hage Geingob was known to be a die-hard football fan and attended many high-profile games.

Hage Geingob regularly attended the Namibia Annual Music Awards, and in his youth sang in a choir, and played in a band.

In 1967 Hage Geingob married Priscilla Charlene Cash, a New York City native; the couple had one daughter, Nangula.

Hage Geingob later married Loini Kandume, a businesswoman, on 11 September 1993, in Windhoek, in a high-profile marriage that resulted in two children: a daughter and a son.

Hage Geingob later said that he survived prostate cancer in 2014.

Hage Geingob underwent heart valve surgery in South Africa in June 2023.

On 8 January 2024, Hage Geingob announced that he was diagnosed again with cancer after a colonoscopy and a gastroscopy.

Minister of Environment, Forestry, and Tourism Pohamba Shifeta subsequently disclosed that Hage Geingob had told him in December 2023 that he had only six months to live.

Hage Geingob conferred Geingob with the posthumous honor of National Hero.

Hage Geingob's death prompted calls for Namibia to establish official guidelines on the deaths of incumbent and former heads of state.

Hage Geingob's thesis was entitled "State Formation in Namibia: Promoting Democracy and Good Governance".

Hage Geingob examined the efforts of Namibians to build a society out of diverse and stratified racial and ethnic groups that were often opposed to each other, to promote democracy and a policy of reconciliation, to improve the condition of the previously disadvantaged groups through affirmative action, to encourage good governance, to promote a culture that respects human rights, and to build state institutions that support these policies.

Hage Geingob was the chairman of the most comprehensive study ever undertaken on Namibia, Namibia: Perspectives for National Reconstruction and Development, which was undertaken by the United Nations Institute for Namibia in pursuance of the mandate given to it by the United Nations General Assembly.

Hage Geingob traveled extensively covering all the continents and attended, chaired, and presented papers at numerous UN and other international conferences.

Hage Geingob regularly attended the General Assembly sessions from 1965 to 1985.